Tag Archives: myths

“Never trust a stranger-friend; no one knows how it will end. As you’re pretty, so be wise; wolves may lurk in every guise.” – Charles Perrault, Little Red Riding Hood

Reading Level:

2.6[according to Scholastic – reflects the grade level at which a student reading on grade could read the book independently]

K – 1 [according to common core]

3.5 [AR]

Interest Level: K-2 [Ages 6-8]

A little house…. a basket…. a grandmother….. and a wolf. These are all familiar elements in the fairy tale Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China. The reader will be intrigued with this version of the story while mentally checking off differences and similarities to the more familiar traditional tale.

“Every person’s life is a fairy tale written by God’s fingers.” –Hans Christian Anderson

Reading Level:

Grade 5 [The text could likely be read independently by a student whose reading skills are at the level of a typical fifth grader.]

Interest Level:

Grades of 3-8

Review and Comments:

The Wishing Spell is a story about a brother and sister named Alex and Connor Bailey, twins who are individually quite unique. Alex is an intelligent and resourceful girl who spends a great deal of time reading alone and isolating herself from those who consider her different. Connor, on the other hand, is a very popular boy who finds school a challenge and sometimes feels that no matter how hard he tries he just doesn’t measure up. He has trouble staying awake in school because, well, most lessons are just not interesting or relevant. The twins do share two very important things in common however. They love fairy tales. Their father and grandmother have been telling them fairy tales since they were very young. Those family times are some of their best memories. Alex even wonders what it would be like to live in a fairy tale of her imagination. The twins also share a great sorrow. Their dad was killed in an accident and even though it was a year ago they still grieve so much that “sometimes they expect their sadness to swell out of their bodies”. Continue reading Venture Forth: A Review of ‘The Wishing Spell’ (Land of Stories #1)→